Reaching for the Stars
When it comes to long running series, there are always bound to be a few entries that end up being quite divisive. The previous title, Trails Through Daybreak 2 is one such entry, and while I personally didn’t think it was bad, it is undoubtedly one of the weakest in the series thus far in terms of story telling. As a follow up to such a title and the penultimate entry to the entire Calvard saga, Trails Beyond the Horizon needed to be exceptional and Falcom has most decidedly brought their A-game.
Things in Calvard are heating up and it’s going to take more than just Van and his allies to get to the bottom of things.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: PS4/PS5, NSW/NSW2, PC
Length: 75~ Hours
A few months after the events of Trails Through Daybreak 2, Van is requested by the Marduk Company to participate in a test. As he makes his way through the trials, he encounters Rean, the fabled Ashen Chevalier of Erebonia as well as Kevin, one of the church’s elite Dominions. After the trials are concluded, a monumental initiative by the Calvard government is announced in the form of Project Startaker, the very first manned space mission in Zemurian history. Sensing there is more to this project than meets the eye, Van, Rean and Kevin all strike out in their own investigations and as they begin to unveil the secrets of the project, they realize that the truth is more than they bargained for.
In terms of the scope and impact of the story presented, this marks one of the most ambitious entries in the series so far as many long standing mysteries are addressed. Alongside that, the return of fan favorites like Rean, Altina, Crow, Kevin and Rufus is a welcome sight as they bring multiple perspectives on the events to come. Much like how the storytelling was handled in Trails into Reverie- Van, Rean and Kevin lead their own separate teams with their own goals in mind in different locations. Given the scope of Project Startaker and all the different players involved, this was a clever way to be able to see the going on in different parts of the country happening at the same time and being able to piece together the puzzle at large using the information from the different routes was satisfying. The parties did converge within the virtual reality of the Grim Garten which gave them a chance to interact with each other as well as serve as a hub where characters from different teams could party up to tackle its many challenges.
On the topic of story, they have finally addressed how connection events are handled. As during various segments, I could choose to spend some time with other characters but they would never give enough time to see all the events during a single playthrough. While this adds a bit of replayability, I felt having to replay a 70+ hour game just to see 1 hour of more content I missed the first time to no fault of my own was less than ideal to say the least. Now, I was given an option to watch the events I missed in the Grim Garten. Given how important some of these optional events could be, I was very glad for this change and hope it will be one that will stick going forward.
One of the events between Van and Elaine was especially impactful, so much to the point where I feel it should be part of the main story. It makes me wonder if there were other events in previous games that I’ve missed with as much impact.
In terms of visuals, the animation work is some of the best I’ve seen from Falcom both in terms of combat animations to in-game cinematics. It really showcases how much they’ve grown as a developer as this is an area that they’ve sorely been lacking on until recently and I hope to see them continue to improve so that they can stand shoulder to shoulder with giants like Monolith Soft and SquareEnix one day.
Shizuna gets all the best cutscenes as usual, although Rean is here to steal some of the spotlight.
What hasn’t changed and has somehow remained the same for literal decades is the dreaded inconsistent use of voice overs. Even though I’ve brought it up countless times before, I will continue to do so until it is finally addressed as I firmly believe that it’s holding the overall presentation of the game back. When a character starts speaking and is voiced but other characters are not or while the event starts voiced and then stops in the middle but then comes back at the end, it’s jarring every single time that it happens and they do this constantly. I get that there is a lot of text in these games, I really do but this is not the best way to save on the budget of the game. If the event is to be voiced, let it be voiced for everyone from the beginning of the scene to the end. If it’s not an important event, leave it unvoiced, it’s fine.
Another pet peeve is in the writing with how often characters bring up the last time they’ve interacted with another character. I understand that when dealing with a cast as massive as this, it’s important to establish character relations and timelines but doing it multiple times in one scene and dozens of times throughout the course of the game, it feels very repetitive. Surely there’s a better way to establish these connections, preferably in a more showing and less telling kind of way.
The combat is fast and satisfying.
In terms of combat, orders have returned, adding another layer of strategy in the mix as bosses can also initiate commands of their own which can significantly change tides of battle. There is a bit of an issue with the time reduction orders being severely overpowered, leading to some strategies that allowed me to defeat many bosses before they even got a single turn but outside of that, I appreciated the added variety.
Field combat has been expanded with the inclusion of ZOC which allowed me to slow down the action to get in a bunch of hits and adding in awakenings in the field, it made it possible to take down even fairly strong enemies using the field combat without having to always rely on shard command battles. Customizing each character’s equipment and their quartz but outside of my main party, I was able to get away with using the basic auto-optimizations for the most part. Overall, everything feels very smooth and polished with plenty of room to strategize, making for a very fun and satisfying combat system.
Other mini-game elements like Poker, Blackjack, Fishing return with various rewards associated with them and unfortunately so do those dreaded follow missions. They’re just as boring and clunky as they’ve ever been and I really don’t know why they keep making us do these segments without ever really improving them.
No moreeeeeeeeeee.
The PC port handled by the talented folks PH3 has done yet another wonderful job with all manner of features and improvements that you won’t see in any other version. Native UW support, DLSS/FSR, POV, many different visual settings with live previews- the works. I wish they could do every PC port given their exceptional track record but I’m happy enough that they’ve been tasked with doing many of the games coming out from Falcom for the stateside PC release.
It’s wild to think that we have finally caught up on the Legend of Heroes series as a Stateside release. Hopefully we’ll be getting all future titles as simultaneous releases going forward.
As a follow up to a divisive entry and as the penultimate release to the end of the Calvard Arc, Trails Beyond the Horizon had to pull out all the stops and luckily, despite a few flaws, they managed to craft an incredible build up that has me on the edge of my seat, eager to find out what happens next.
Fun Tidbit – Obligatory OST plug, instead of the typical battle themes I usually go with, I feel this somber tune fits this game best.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
